Ever wondered why it is so hard to meet someone these days? Well, that's what a single engineer from North Bristol was talking to his friend about when she decided to take matters into her own hands and find him a girlfriend.

Ricky Long, 35, had been explaining the difficulties of dating to his good friend Angela one evening when the married mum of five took a somewhat unconventional route to find him a lady.

Having known Ricky for around 20 years, Angela vowed to help Ricky find love and went ahead and posted an appeal on a Bristol mum's group to drum up some dates.

Angela published the post on the Bradley Stoke Mum’s Facebook group which has more than 2,000 members and is one of Bristol's most popular and well-used groups for women.

Ricky got a helping hand from his friend Angela to kick-start his dating game again.

Ricky, who is also godparent to Angela's first child, had no idea what his good friend was up to until she told him several women had expressed an interest.

Despite his initial shock, Ricky was pleasantly surprised with the reaction and has been contacted by several women.

“It seems to have worked," he said. "I’ve had a couple of messages and spoken to one girl who seems nice. It’s only been up there a couple of days so I’m hopeful. It has definitely been worth giving it a go," said Ricky.

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"I had been chatting with Angela about how difficult it is to meet people these days. Lots of my friends are already settled down and so it can make you think a little bit.

"She turned around and said ‘leave it to me’ and said she was going to make it her personal mission to find me a girlfriend. I didn't know what was going to happen but then she did that post and I thought well, let’s just see how it goes," he added.

"He's friendly, funny and loves animals" the post reads

Ricky, who does mixed martial arts fighting and is a self-proclaimed "nerd" believes it is getting harder to strike up meaningful relationships with people.

He said: "Nobody really just meets in a pub and gets chatting anymore and so you don’t get into the situation where you look forward to seeing them there the next week. The opportunity to have real conversations with people you haven’t met before just seems less and less," said Ricky.

“It also doesn't help that I work in a very male environment, I love my job but it’s not like there’s good chance of meeting someone there," he added.

"Although I'm content and happy with my life in terms of friends, jobs and hobbies it would be nice to have someone to share that with."

Ricky and Angela have been friends for a long time so she thought she'd make it her mission to find her mate a date.

Angela said: “I’ve known Ricky for such a long time and given his recent split with a girlfriend I said come on let’s help you out. I think everyone wants their friends to be happy so it was an obvious decision for me.

“Sometimes you can navigate through life and end up in single’s-ville and everyone else has settled down. A lot of people are in the same boat as Ricky.

"Meeting people is difficult and although there are apps like Tinder, most of the time they are just superficial. Facebook could be such a great platform for meeting people if you were willing to put yourself out there," she added.

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“I set-up the Bradley Stoke Mums group about two years ago when I moved to the area and it really kicked off. I knew it was the right place to put a post and find him someone. I’ve had loads of messages from women asking for his details.

"I've even had women asking if I know of other single people," she said.

Now, only time will now tell whether the post will work for Ricky and whether it will inspire others to give it a go.